While most of the new tax law – the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – has to do with reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, some provisions relate to individual taxpayers. Before we get into the details, be aware that almost everything listed below sunsets after 2025, with the tax structure reverting to its current form in 2026 unless Congress acts between now and then. The...

If your child has reached the teenage years, you may already feel as though you are losing control of her life. This is legally true once your child reaches the age of 18 because the state considers her to be an adult with the legal right to govern her own life. Up until your child reaches 18, you are absolutely entitled to access your child’s medical records and to make decisions regarding the...

When leaving a home to your children, you can avoid probate by using either joint ownership or a revocable trust, but which is the better method? If you add your child as a joint tenant on your house, you will each have an equal ownership interest in the property. If one joint tenant dies, his or her interest immediately ceases to exist and the other joint tenant owns the entire property. This...

Emotions can run high at the death of a family member. If a family member is unhappy with the amount they received (or didn’t receive) under a will, he or she may contest the will. Will contests can drag out for years, keeping all the heirs from getting what they are entitled to. It may be impossible to prevent relatives from fighting over your will entirely, but there are steps you can...

Finding love later in life may be unexpected and exciting, but should it lead to marriage? The considerations are much different for an older couple with adult children and retirement plans than for a young couple just starting out. Before deciding whether to get married or just live together, you need to look at your estate plan, your Social Security benefits, and your potential long-term care...

A once-popular estate planning tool may now cost families more in taxes than it saves. Changes in the estate tax have made the “bypass trust” a less appealing option for many families. If your estate plan includes a bypass trust not drafted by this office, you should reconsider its necessity because it could be doing more harm than good. (Our office typically drafts bypass drafts...